50-HOUR JET DELAY ORDEAL Aug 17 2004
PASSENGERS waited stranded at Gatwick yesterday – after the hurricane in America delayed their plane by 50 hours.
The flight to take 440 travellers to Florida was repeatedly put back because of Hurricane Charley.
By the time a replacement jet was found, cabin crew refused to board, insisting their shifts had ended.
Police had to be called to quell irate travellers before the Air Atlanta Europe charter flight finally left at around 2pm yesterday.
Mitch Heeney, 52, from Iver, Bucks, said: “When the pilot refused to get on the plane I was ready to explode. The crowd was ready to string someone up. We’d been waiting here for hours and were going crazy.
“Other companies were taking passengers to Florida and we were still stuck at the airport.”
Joan Smalley, 54, taking her grandchildren to Disneyland, said: “It’s an absolute joke. We paid £7,000 to fly and it’s been one disaster after another.”
A spokeswoman for travel agents Travel City Direct said: “We apologise wholeheartedly.”
By: Bmused55 - 18th August 2004 at 07:58
A classic case of Pax forgetting that things were done for their safety.
By: wysiwyg - 17th August 2004 at 23:54
The thing is that they may have only been a few hours into their duty time at that point however they have to make sure the schedule can be completed within the available remaining duty period. If not they can’t despatch unless they dump the aircraft short of destination. In that case the passengers would then have to wait for 11-12 hours before the crew would then legally be allowed to finish the journey.
By: EAL_KING - 17th August 2004 at 23:00
why not cancel it and go to europe thats what id do as two more hurricanes are expected to hit florida in next 2 weeks.
By: wysiwyg - 17th August 2004 at 22:50
Mitch Heeney, 52, from Iver, Bucks, said: “When the pilot refused to get on the plane I was ready to explode. The crowd was ready to string someone up. We’d been waiting here for hours and were going crazy.
Let’s make sure I’ve got this right…Mitch Heeney (who apparantly comes from my village, by the way!) wanted to string up a pilot who didn’t think it was safe to land several hundred tonnes of Jumbo at nearly 150+mph in a hurricane after a duty period long enough to be considered illegal! If I was a passenger and the flightdeck had chosen to go, I think I would have asked to get off!
By: T5 - 17th August 2004 at 19:12
I also hear that SE Asia has a rainy season but don’t worry as it’s nothing more than a light drizzle.
August/September is the wettest time of the year for Thailand. Even when I was there back in July 2003, it rained at least every other day very heavily!
I also noticed that an Excel Airways service departed some 10 hours late this morning! 😮
By: topjet330 - 17th August 2004 at 19:12
i think we shouldnt forget that the likes of Virgin, Britannia, Thomas Cook, First Choice have all had similar delays due to the hurricane, i wouldnt complain because its their fault they booked a flight in the middle of the hurricane season. it does annoy me.
By: Whiskey Delta - 17th August 2004 at 18:40
Let’s see….planning a trip to Florida during a Hurricane season?……sure I can’t forsee any problems occuring. I also hear that SE Asia has a rainy season but don’t worry as it’s nothing more than a light drizzle.
By: LBARULES - 17th August 2004 at 18:18
Travel City Direct seem to be having a terrible summer.
More bad luck after more bad luck.
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August 17, 2004 at 4:57 pm